It appears to be raining BlackBerry Playbooks. If Maxis Playbook + BlackBerry combo isn’t attractive enough, Celcom is now throwing the Playbook at low prices while stocks last. You can now get a Playbook from Celcom WITHOUT contract at the following prices:

RIM has just sold 490,000 BlackBerry PlayBooks in the first three months of the tablet’s launch in April this year.

In comparison, Apple sold 9.25 million iPads over the same period, according to a Bloomberg report. In the same report, Bloomberg says analysts predict that RIM will sell around 2.2 million PlayBooks in its first year.

Obviously, this doesn’t bode well for RIM that is also currently under tremendous pressure from investors who want the company to turn its fortunes around or opt for an acquisition.

At launch, RIM had expected the PlayBook to boost its position in the mobile device market, a market in which the once dominant force is currently rapidly losing market share to Apple and Google’s Android platform, but being late to come into the tablet game and deciding not to include dedicated e-mail or instant messaging and a shortage of consumer applications has severely affected PlayBook sales.

While the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 offers a glimmer of hope for RIM with its improved hardware and BlackBerry 7 operating system, RIM’s long-term success lie in the public’s reception towards its yet-to-be release QNX devices. At the moment RIM’s biggest challenge will be if it can release these QNX devices on time.

Celcom has revealed that it is offering the BlackBerry Playbook tablet. This makes Celcom the 3rd Malaysian telco to offer the Playbook after Maxis and U Mobile. It is currently shown as coming soon but the plans and bundling options have been revealed on their website from as low as RM888 for 24 months contract on business plans.

All 3 BlackBerry Playbook models (16GB/32GB/64GB) are being offered. Existing Celcom customers can opt to get it together with a BlackBerry Smart Phone or as a standalone with further extension on existing BlackBerry contract.

When it comes to latest flagship devices, bundling usually comes from the top 3. Not any longer as U Mobile also offers the BlackBerry Playbook, a month after Maxis.

U Mobile only offers 2 versions – 16GB and 64GB. Outright, the Playbook is offered at RM1,599 (16GB) and RM2,199 (64GB) for existing customers. With a RM68/month U Mobile BIS subscription, it can be yours for RM1,199 (16GB) and RM1,699 (64GB). Surprisingly it is written as no contract which is very unlikely for a subsidised offering. We are inclined to believe that it is offered with 24 months contract and we will try to confirm the details.

To sweeten the offer, they are also throwing in RM350 worth of accessories while stocks last.

The Maxis Blackberry Playbook plans are finally revealed with the official launch happening on Saturday, 16th July 2011 at KL Convention Centre. For those who want to be the first to own it, Maxis is opening its pre-booking for the Playbook their site. There are a total of 3 Playbook models available with outright pricing as follows:

So how are the plans like? They are 2 PlayBook Data plans with 1.5GB and 3.0GB data quotas at RM30/month and RM50/month respectively with a choice of 12 or 24 months contract. For current BIS subscribers, the PlayBook bundled pricing are as follows:

For non-Maxis BIS subscribers, they are offering pretty much the same thing since they require you to buy both PlayBook and BlackBerry smart phone as well.

As an additional promo offer, they are also giving a limited edition BlackBerry PlayBook convertible case and HDMI cable kit worth RM288 with Free Maxis WiFi access throughout your contract period for the first 600 customers that purchase at the event.

To book yours, head to Maxis BlackBerry site. If you haven’t read it, check out our PlayBook First Impressions.

Just while we’re wondering when is BlackBerry’s PlayBook coming to Malaysia, Maxis has started to offer Registration of Interest for the device. Last week, it was announced that the PlayBook will be coming to 16 countries in the next 30 days but Malaysia wasn’t part of the list.

No mentions when Maxis will officially make this available but another BlackBerry centric telco, Celcom too is expected to offer the device as well. It is anyone’s guess who will actually be the first to bundle the 7″ PlayBook in Malaysia.

To register your interest, head here. As usual, those that register will be able to get early pricing ahead of launch.

Perhaps in response to heavy criticism for not having a native email, calendar and contacts application built right into the BlackBerry Playbook, RIM has just demonstrated at BlackBerry World 2011 that native email and PIM applications for the device is actually on its way as an OS update.

PlayBook users can expect to see Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, MemoPad and Email all run natively on the device without the need to setup a BlackBerry Bridge connection. BBM however will still require you to tether your BlackBerry phone to the PlayBook.

RIM says you can expect the update to roll out to BlackBerry PlayBook users sometime in June. Also PlayBook users can expect regular updates with new features being introduced to the PlayBook more frequently than competing tablet devices.

It looks like by the time the PlayBook actually arrives in Malaysia we’ll be getting all the missing features built right into the device. For PlayBook hopefuls this is a good development.

The BlackBerry PlayBook has been heavily criticised for the lack of a native email and other personal information management software client and while we can’t fault the QNX platform’s superiority in web browsing and multi-tasking functionality, the other shortcomings of the PlayBook makes it a less than ideal device someone who doesn’t own a BlackBerry device.

But what does RIM have to say about all this? RIM’s Co-CEO Jim Balsillie spoke to Bloomberg to explain the company’s strategy behind the PlayBook and answers the question “why should consumers buy the PlayBook over the iPad 2?”

Bonus after the jump: Wall Street Journal spoke to Jim Balsillie on the reason behind not including a native email client in the PlayBook.

To celebrate its first day of sale in the US RIM released a short but sweet one minute video highlighting some of the reviews that gave the PlayBook the thumbs up.

It’s a nice video and it tastefully showcases some of the innovations that BlackBerry brings into the tablet market like true multi-tasking and PC like web-browsing — both of which are things we really like with the PlayBook. In the video, RIM is not bashful with the the fact that you need a BlackBerry phone which is fine and dandy if you’re already a BlackBerry user but if you don’t have a BlackBerry phone, getting a PlayBook is something you would have take your time to consider.

With all the awesomeness that RIM has created with the PlayBook, we can’t help but wonder how much better it would be if email, contact, calendar, BBM and test messaging we’re native stand-alone clients on the device.